**The Salthawks are appearing in their ninth state title game in last 10 years. They've won in seven of their past eight championship appearances, with the lone loss coming against Olathe North in 2003.**Hutchinson head coach Randy Dreiling has all but cemented his legacy as one of the all-time coaching greats in the state of Kansas. In 1997 he inherited a Hutchinson program that had a 26-game losing streak going. In 2000 the Salthawks qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 13 years. In 2002 they made it to Sub-State where they lost to Derby and in 2003 they lost to Olathe North in the 6A state title game. In 2004 they claimed their first state title against Olathe South.Dreiling and Co. haven't looked back, going 106-11 since the start of the 2004 season.

**Kansas big-class football is most often categorized by its dynasties. From 1979 to 1995 Lawrence High appeared in 12 state title games winning 10 of them. The 6A torch was passed to Olathe North in 1996 when the city of Lawrence split into two high schools. Olathe North appeared in eight state title games from 1996 to 2004, winning seven. Meanwhile in class 5A, Marvin Diener led Salina Central to eight state title appearances from 1993 to 2005, winning six championships. Gene Wier left his post at Olathe North to coach in Texas following the 2002 season while Diener left Salina Central after the 2005 campaign to coach at Gardner-Edgerton. In many ways that was when Hutchinson began to take over. The Salthawks have obviously been the state's most dominant big-class program since 2004.

**The Vikings, who claimed a league-leading 14th Sunflower League title earlier this year, are playing in their second state championship game under head coach Tim Callaghan. The Vikings previously appeared in the 2006 6A state title where they lost to Hutchinson, 21-14.

**SM West's primary running back Brett Sterbach has rushed for 1,955 yards and 21 touchdowns on 288 carries. That's the sixth most rushing yards any player has put up in a single season in Sunflower League history. If he can gain another 45 yards on the ground he'll join an exclusive Sunflower League 2,000-yard rushing club, something only four other league backs have ever done. The club's four members are all Olathe North alumni--Darren Sproles ('99 and '00), Maurice Mack ('01), Jim Bouknight ('02) and James Franklin ('09).

**Since 2004--Callaghan's second year as the head coach at SM West--the program has won 77 games. That ranks second in the Sunflower League during that time period, one game behind Olathe East who's won 78 games. It's a pretty remarkable feat considering SM West went a combined 9-27 from 2000-2003.